A basic principle for grass-root organizers has been that people should fully participate in deciding the kind of changes that would affect their lives. To do this, the people concerned should first attain a certain level of consciousness, But here, the organizers come to a dilemma. How can the people attain a higher level of consciousness given the many ideological forms they are accustomed to? Should this come form the outside? In that case, would the people be subjected to new ideological forms?

The conscientizing research is basically a research method that attempts to raise the consciousness not only of the people in the locale but also the researchers/organizers themselves during the course of the research. It points out that the process of conscientization is a mutual one thus avoiding the classic problem of manipulation in consciousness-raising.

The conscientizing research is the result of years of research works done by the Ecumenical Institute for Development of Peoples (INODEP), a research Institute based in Paris but is in contacts with research groups and grass-root organizations throughout the world.  

Conscientizing research: A methodological guide

Plough

1981

HM 48 I56

Sociology--Research